The present invention relates to an image processor of an imaging apparatus.
An imaging element having a large number of pixels over one million pixels, such as a CCD or a CiS (CMOS image sensor), is used in an imaging apparatus such as a digital camera. An image processor and a signal processing device are required to perform high-speed processing in order to process the large amount of image data provided from an imaging element.
FIG. 1 is a partial block circuit diagram of a conventional imaging apparatus. The imaging apparatus 10 includes a camera module 11, a base band LSI 12, and an image memory 13. The camera module 11 has an imaging unit 14, which includes an imaging element, and an image processing LSI 15, which processes the output signal of the imaging unit 14. The imaging unit 14 performs A/D conversion on an output signal of the imaging element, which is in accordance with the incident light and generates converted image data. The converted image data is formed from data of a plurality of pixels, with each piece of pixel data configured by data corresponding to the colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B). The image processing LSI 15 includes a format conversion circuit (YCbCr conversion circuit) and an interface circuit. The image processing LSI 15 converts the image data of the three primary colors (RGB) to image data representing brightness/color difference (YCbCr). The interface circuit provides the converted image data to the base band LSI 12.
The base band LSI 12 includes a compression circuit 16 and ah interface circuit (not shown). The interface circuit stores the image data received from the camera module 11 in the image memory 13. The compression circuit 16 reads the image data stored in the image memory 13, converts the image data to compression data in a predetermined format (e.g., JPEG format), and stores the compression data in the image memory 13.